When icicles hand by the wall

Thus wrote William Shakespeare over 400 years ago. Wednesday night's deep snow partially melted in the sun yesterday but froze again when the sun went down, producing thousands of lovely icicles as the photos show. But it also turned the lane outside our house into a skating rink. This afternoon we walked (or should I say "skidded") the 500 yards down the lane to the Village Shop to get some essential supplies. Fortunately we have not had to drive anywhere today - Jenny's talks yesterday and today were cancelled because of the weather.

Flowers in the Garden

Despite it being only one month away from the shortest day of the year and despite several hard frosts, strong winds and lots of rain, we still have flowers in the garden. Here you can see a white crysanthemum (is that how they spell it?) which has been flowering for weeks and an exquisite rose which I cut from a bush right by our door two days ago.

Beech Hedge

Last week 25 bare rooted beech trees (fagus sylvatica) arrived by carrier and I planted them as a hedge round the bottom corner of our garden. They are fine, healthy specimens, with roots about 12 inches long and wide (see photo) and plenty of small branches and leaves. In time they will grow into a dense hedge, bright green in spring and summer and all shades between gold and brown in autumn and winter. If you want some excellent hedging or trees why not access www.ashridgetrees.co.uk.

Stained glass work

Five weeks ago Jenny signed up for a stained glass course being run in a tiny studio in our village. On Wednesday she brought home her first piece of work and here it is. Pretty good I think, and she only cut her finger once!

Africa Mercy film - didn't happen

My apologies to any UK readers of this blog who tried to watch the Africa Mercy film I mentioned a few days ago. It should have been shown by Quest TV at 11pm last night but the programme schedulers decided to show something else instead. How annoying! If you recorded the substituted programme you might decide not to watch it.

Sheep

Yesterday morning I heard a strange noise in the lane right next to our house. Looking out of the window I saw a farmer walking backwards up the land rattling an animal feed bag and making a noise a bit like a Swiss yodell. Behind him were scores of sheep padding quietly up the lane, some nibbling at wayside weeds (and our garden plants!) and one of two brave ones trying to jump over walls. I rushed for my camera and managed to get a few shots, although I didn't have time to open the window. After the sheep came two sheep dogs and about four children eating (or smoking) sweet cigarettes, the another farmer in his Land Rover, then a long patient line of cars held up by the sheep. Another charming rural scene from the Dorset/Somerset border.

Laburnam wood

Last week we cut down a tatty old laburnam tree in our garden to make way for a new beech hedge. The trunk and branches varied in thickness from 2 inches to 4 inches, ideal for turning on a lathe into very attractive items, sometimes called treen (did you know that bagpipe mouthpieces are made from laburnam wood as it is impervious to moisture?). So I advertised the wood on the "Freecycle" page of our village magazine and within an hour of publication a retired carpenter phoned and asked if he could have it. He will dip the ends of the wood in wax so that it dries out slowly without cracking over the next three years then he will turn it into beautiful objects. In return for the laburnam wood he gave me a useful pen pot that he had turned from, guess what, laburnam wood. Here is a photo.

Mighty Ships - the Africa Mercy

Mighty Ships is a series of hour long TV programmes featuring a different "mighty ship" each week At 11pm (sorry about the late showing) on Friday 29 October the programme will feature the Africa Mercy - the largest charity hospital ship in the world. Our son Olly and his family live, work and go to school on the Africa Mercy and towards the end of the programme Olly has his 15 seconds of fame when he talks to camera about one of his roles on the ship, that of dive team co-ordinator. I saw the programme a few weeks ago and consider it the best I have seen about this wonderful ship and the 450 volunteers who live and work on her. The programme is on Quest TV, Freeview Channel 38, Sky 54, Virgin 179.

And again

Try again - garden photos

More garden photos

For some reason I could not put more photos on my last blog. Hopefully, here they are now:

Our garden

Despite the first frost of the Autumn last night our garden is still looking very colourful. Our summerhouse project is nearly finished (just a bit of paving to cement in place and some bare-rooted beech trees to plant in November), the lawn is recovering from the Summer drought and our garden ornaments are increasing in number. Our goldfish survived the hardest Winter for 18 years under the ice and in Spring started to breed for the first time - there are at least 20 small fish in the pond although about half of them are black and not very visible. Perhaps you can see a gold coloured one in the pond photograph?

Birthday Boy, Thomas

We spent last weekend helping our grandson Thomas celebrate his 9th birthday. After a filthy wet Friday, Saturday was a lovely sunny day and in the morning we watched Thomas (number 15) play football for his junior school team - they won the match 2 - 0. In the afternoon we joined Thomas and 8 other young guests on the Junior Adventure Course at Aerial Extreme, Milton Keynes, traversing ropes high above the ground. We enjoyed it so much we are going back some time to do the Senior Course, which takes 2 hours. Then it was time for all the guests to have tea at MacDonalds. Sorry we have not got any photos of the adventure course (we were hanging on for dear life and had no time opportunity to take any) but if you want to know more log on to http://www.aerialextreme.co.uk/

Changes in the garden

Over the last few weeks we have been making changes to the garden, including demolishing a crumbling stone staircase, removing a concrete flagged path across the lawn and returfing where the flags were. We had a few exciting moments (are you sure that's what the instructions say?) erecting a summerhouse at the south east corner of the garden where we can sit in the evening sunshine and enjoy a G & T and a good book. Well, that's the idea anyway! We've still got quite a bit of work to do including paving in front of the summerhouse with old stone roofing "slates", creating a new border and laying some more turf. Then in November we will plant a beech hedge to hide the summerhouse from the road. We are enjoying the work very much.

Fun with the grandchildren

Our grandchildren, Thomas (8) and Sophie (4), recently spent five nights at our house whilst their parents were in New York. Although the weather was not good (it rained a lot) we all had a great time entering the many events inThomas's mini Olympic Games, with a prize giving ceremony at the end. We also went to Shaftesbury on a public bus (a rare treat for them), baked buns one day and pizzas another, visited a farm with rare breeds of donkeys and other animals, and when Sophie was getting a bit tired we watched Peppa Pig DVDs. But best of all was a day spent hunting for fossils on the beach at Lyme Regis - Thomas and Sophie found 16 altogether which they were able to bring home. Mummy and Daddy enjoyed themselves in New York too, so a great time was had by all.

Mercy Ship on TV

The Quest TV programme in the Mighty Ships series, scheduled to go out tomorrow, has now been rescheduled for Tuesday 14 September at 9pm on Freeview channel 38. The programme features the Mercy Ship, Africa Mercy, and our son Olly talks to camera in his role as Dive Team Coordinator on the ship. He also tells us that his family can be seen in the background. Its just over 7 years since Olly and his family left England to train as Mercy Ships volunteers and they have spent most of those years working amongst the desperately poor people of West Africa. (The Dive Team has to go deep under the ship twice a week to remove rubbish from the water intake otherwise the engines overheat, the electricity fails and the whole ship grinds to a halt.) Photos show Olly in the filthy waters of Benin and the family in Benin, 2009.

Henry Moore Foundation, Hertfordshire

We've just returned from a 850 mile tour of Hertfordshire and Yorkshire during which we met up with 18 friends and relatives. In Hertfordshire we stayed with our friends Wendy and Keith who took us to the Henry Moore Foundation's centre at Perry Green, near Much Hadham. Moore set up the Foundation as a charity to promote the arts and it now does much good work both in the UK and internationally. We had a tour of Moore's house and some of his workshops and saw much of his prolific output, from small drawings up to massive sculptures weighing several tons. Whilst all of these sculptures were very cleverly thought out and brilliantly executed in all kinds of materials we still had difficulty reconciling the titles of some of them with the finished work of art. No doubt I was missing something but my favourite, perhaps because it looks like its title, was the family group on the bench. If you want to see them for yourself you will have to hurry as the centre close to the public for the season on 30 August. (Top photo shows Wendy comparing sculpture to its title in the guide - can you tell what it is?)

Center Parcs

The Center Parcs brand started in The Netherlands and the De Kempervennen Center Parc is almost identical in every way to the Longleat Center Parc in Wiltshire, UK, which we know quite well. However our luxurious VIP villa at Kempervennen was new this season and included a dishwasher, home cinema outfit, whirlpool bath and sauna. See photos of Sophie and Thomas pretending to enjoy a sauna and Ben almost lost in foam in the whirlpool bath. Both these facilities brought much needed relief to aching muscles, scrapes and bruises after a day of cycling, swimming and sports. Our VIP villa also had fresh rolls and croissants delivered before breakfast each morning and a free daily newspaper - in English of course. It really was excellent, well equipped in every area and spotlessly clean.

Happy Birthday

Jenny and I recently celebrated my significant birthday with a week at Center Parcs de Kempervennen in the Netherlands. Ben, Clare, Thomas and Sophie were with us and on the morning of my birthday they got up early and decorated our villa with balloons and signs they had made themselves and got out a lovely cake and a bottle of champagne they had brought out from England. I got some lovely cards and presents too - an interesting armorial (for the garden) from Jenny, a tasteful heron from Ben and family (also for the garden) and, all the way from Olly and family in Togo, West Africa, a Phillips PhotoFrame complete with lovely family photos and a charming locally painted picture entitled "Family Transport - visit to parents". In the evening we had a meal at the Center Parcs grill where I was presented with a free drink by the management! Altogether a day to remember! I've attached a few of my own photos but if you would like to see about 20 of Ben's excellent photos of the week log on to http://www.flickr.com/photos/benpeet/sets/72157624506428965/ for the photo set.

"Time flies"

I see that it is five weeks since I made my last blog entry. Where has the time gone? Well, since Ben and family left us on 3 June we have had three more sets of guests staying with us. Guests provide the perfect excuse for putting all the chores on one side and driving round sharing interesting and lovely places in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire with them. Its great fun but the chores are still there when the guests have gone! This year we have taken our visitors to villages and small towns which were having "open garden days", a wonderful way to admire other people's gardens and homes, from stately manor houses to charming little cottages. And there were some lovely ones too. We have also spent some time playing in the opening rounds of our Croquet Club summer competition. We've done well in the Doubles Association Croquet and should be through to the next round but we won't talk about the Doubles Golf Croquet! Then of course there have been talks to do, singing, bellringing, committee meetings and much watering of the garden during the recent dry spell. We need a holiday! Photo shows my sister Joan (one of our guests) with Jenny on Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, made famous by the Hovis TV advert many years ago. It was a bit chilly and damp that day.

Royal Bath and West Show

Last week we went with Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie to the Royal Bath and West Show, probably the biggest agricultural show in England. Hundreds of farmers, animal owners, cheese makers and florists had entered their cows, bulls, sheep, pigs, poultry, rabbits, goats, floral displays, cheeses and much more in the hope of winning the show medals. In addition there was a show jumping competition, military band displays, a parade of old vehicles and thousands of side stalls. We had a ride on the miniature railway (that's us behind the boy in the black top hat), watched the sheep judging, savoured the aroma of the cheese hall, watched the old tractor display and much more. After a long day we drove to the nearby Somerset town of Shepton Mallet for a fish and chip supper, then home to bed. What a lovely day.

Royal Bath and Werst

Sophie's wild flowers

Trees and flowers photos - I hope!

Trees and flowers

When I visited Ashley's Plantation, just outside our village, in April there were no leaves at all on the trees and the earth was bare. When I went a few days ago the trees were full of leaves and the ground was three feet high in stinging nettles and other wild plants. Using machetes, Ben, Thomas and I cleared a pathway through the plantation so that people can visit the woodland without being stung by the nettles. Whilst we were doing this Jenny and Sophie explored the hedgerows and came back with a bunch of wild flowers for the kitchen table. The photos for this blog will have to come later - I seem to have a glitch in the system!

Definitely the last about Egypt

No Nile Cruise would be complete without the traditional ship's galabaya party. These full length garments can be bought very cheaply from Egyptian vendors who row out to the ship when it is waiting to pass through Edfu lock on the river - in fact its difficult not to buy one as they are so persistent. Standing on their rocking boats they hail people on the top deck then throw a polythene bag with a galabaya inside it up to them three floors above - they rarely miss. The prospective buyer tries the garment for size, negotiates a price, puts the money in the polythene bag and throws it back down again. Its great fun. At the party we learned two new games - one where the men had to tie a string round their waists from which hung a potato. They then had to swing this potato to hit another potato on the floor and knock it across the stage. The other game involved passing numerous empty water bottles round the circle until the music stopped - very much like "passing the parcel". Our cabin stewards were great fun too - every evening they made something out of our towels, pillows or life jacket - here are two examples, one a crocodile, the other I'm not sure what but its wearing a life jacket.